


Still More To Take

by Dinoskull



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Body Modification, Clones, Embedded Images, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 20:24:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20431928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dinoskull/pseuds/Dinoskull
Summary: It was a member of his kind; his brothers. But how he walked, how he carried himself...it was all wrong. He wore metal cybernetic talons. He cloaked himself in fur."Evening sleepyhead."All Hordak could do was make a pathetic, confused query."Catra?"The figure gave a satisfied predatory grin."Hello, big brother."





	Still More To Take

Hordak awoke in a strange room. The metal around him was similar to that smelted in the Fright Zone, but with sterile coverings. He then noticed the medical equipment next to him and was able to place his location.

He was in the designated area for important political prisoners that required medical attention.

He hadn't seen one of these since arriving on Etheria. He kept it maintained of course, as was regulations but-

His ears perked up. Someone was approaching. 

They opened the door, its panels sliding open.

It was a member of his kind; his brothers. But how he walked, how he carried himself...it was all wrong. He wore metal cybernetic talons. He cloaked himself in fur.

And then "he" spoke.

"Evening sleepyhead. Gotta say you look much less pathetic not connected to all those wires and tubes."

Time seemed to stand still.

The world crashed as everything made complete sense yet no sense at all, both at the same time. Memories flickered into place, but not fully recalled.

All Hordak could do was make a pathetic, confused query.

"Catra?"

The figure gave a satisfied predatory grin.

"Hello, big brother. You've been unconscious for a while now"

"How-" Hordak began, only to be interrupted.

"Gotta admit you got me good. I was gonna live, but never was gonna heal in a way that I would have been able to live **_with._**"

She sashayed around the room. How long had been out if she was already so well adapted to her form?

"Luckily there was a spare body available. And Entrapta had a presentation on file from when she talked to you that showed Horde Prime how valuable I was.

His fist clenched. "You are in-?"

"The first clone body of yours that ever showed promise? Yep. Man you and Entrapta did really well on this one."

"Horde Prime would never-" Hordak began to shout.

Catra interrupted him again.

"Maybe yours wouldn't but the new guy is much more open minded.

Hordak froze. More was coming back to him now.

"Honestly it's probably happened a lot of times in the past once the empire got so big. No one can keep track of everything And you have an army made in the image of an ambitious tyrant, all who looks just like him. This guy is probably just the first honest one"

A new smile flashed across her face, but a more peaceful one this time.

"Lucky me the new emperor is forward thinking. Especially on body mods"

She gazed fondly at her metal talons. Wriggling them in self-fascination.

"Though personally, I think his antenna mustache is a mistake. But Kyle and Rogelio were all agape when he strode in. Lonnie practically had to close their mouths for them so they didn't get drool on the floor. So...no accounting for taste."

Hordak had no idea who these other people were that she was talking about. All he knew was his situation had not turned only hopeless, but insulting.

Catra noticed his downcast ears betraying his shaken resolve.

"Hey, hey. No need to be sad. " She spoke in a comforting tone that almost sounded sincere, rather than sarcastic. She put her arm around him. He was too weak to fight.

"Your family did come for you, even if it didn't include the brother you were expecting.But now you've got also got a darling new sister looking out for you." she mockinly cooed.

This parody of sibling teasing was becoming tiresome.

He raised his eyes to Catra's demonic face. 

"And why exactly," he spat "would you 'look out for me'?"

"Because I need a way to control Entrapta; and she cares about you " Catra replied; accentuating the humiliation with a ruffle of his hair.

She got a faraway look in her eyes.

"Who knows , maybe with my new free time once I conquer this planet, and the knowledge that was given to me with the transfer , I might become her new lab partner. It's a bit hard to sift through the information now, but in the future…"

Hordak bristled.

"You sent her to Beast Island!" he roared.

Catra merely shrugged at the reminder. 

"Temporary madness brought on by you suffocating me. Which should _not _be a problem anymore"

"Is that why you are so chatty, since you no longer have to stop to breathe?" 

A sudden jolt of pain came after Hordak's retort. He kept himself from crying out.

He looked down. Catra's metal talons were digging into his arm.

She continued on as if she wasn't stabbing him, looking at nothing.

"I know a lot more now. Both from the memories your kind gets in their tubes; which was added into my brain upload; and all the files I'm now allowed access to thanks to my new authority. I know about the magicats. I know where I was likely born.

She turned to him. This time her grin was sardonic.

"How funny that I finally know it when it's now mostly irrelevant."

He gave her a glowering stare , his mind still on the last topic ."You think you can replace me in all aspects, even my … partnership with Entrapta."

"Well, I'm sure as hell gonna try." His tormentor said with a smirk.

"And what inspired this sheer depths of animosity? Aside from your judgment with Shadow Weaver, you often seemed practically minded despite your incompetence."

Her grip loosened. She looked at him with a mixture of disgust and shock. 

"You really don't get it, do you? You think you're blameless."

She grabbed him by the neck and forced him to look into her eyes.

"Let's start with most recent issue:

You took Adora from me. She was_ mine _to kill!"

His formerly feline aggressor slammed him into the headrest, then removed herself from the side of the bed, standing up to her full height.

"That's how my life has been with you... Just you taking from me; or giving me things just to take them away from me at a later date!”

She paced around his room like a caged animal, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"You removed Shadow Weaver's power over me, and like a _sap,_ I forgot you were the one who gave her that power in the first place!

You made me second in command, then took it away and sent me out to die.

You took away my life, my people, then, with your portal, you gave me Adora! NOW YOU TOOK HER AWAY FROM ME TOO!"

He expected her to lash out with that yell, to damage or gouge something. But instead the rage she displayed subsided. Not so much faded as ...retracted. Stored for later.

She took a deep breath; a reflex of her old body, and composed herself.

"Now I'm going to see how much I can take from you. And let me tell you from personal experience: 

**no matter how low you've sunk, there's always more to lose."**

Her playful posture subsided, looking military, attentive.

But her voice still was not.

"See ya, big bro." 

With a professional stride, she left the room…

...and Hordak alone with his thoughts.

**Author's Note:**

> A picture of the new Horde Prime who came out of the portal. The design of Horde Prime from the UK comics  
  
Kyle and Rogelio have strange taste.
> 
> I hope this didn't come off as transphobic at all. I mean while this is a nightmare to Hordak, its because the body is meant to be his.  
I tried hard to make Catra's nastiness come of as a mean-spirited parody of sibling love, and I hope I succeeded.


End file.
